Underwood said she decided to stay at Pulaski because she was uncomfortable with how the mass exodus was handled.

U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips heard arguments Tuesday and took Pulaski’s motion under advisement.

Pulaski also says the defecting employees steered business to First State Bank before they moved, though its lawsuit does not ask for those customers back.

First State Bank has countered that customer lists belong to the loan officers — many of whom brought similar lists to Pulaski in the same manner — and are not trade secrets. It says the employees left Pulaski because they were disenchanted with working conditions at the bank.

The customer lists are crucial because they’re used to generate mailings to existing customers offering to refinance their mortgages. Phillips’ consideration of whether the databases are trade secrets hinges on whether the information — which includes appraised values and interest rates — can readily be obtained elsewhere.

“All this discussion of trade secrets is an attempt to bootstrap into a noncompete that doesn’t exist,” said Tedrick Housh, a Lathrop & Gage LLP lawyer for FSB.

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